Order of schools on FAFSA?

Paying for College
21

<p>For in-state schools and aid, the highschool guidance counselor is probably your best source of info, particularly in public schools and any school where a good percentage of kids go to the state unis. I have seen this consistently in a number of states. </p>

<p>Other than those state grant exceptions which I had heard some talk about, I have never heard a whisper about the order in which you list your schools on FAFSA making any difference in the award given. Most of us just list the schools randomly anyways; it never occurred to us that someone would sit there and list them in preference order. Preferential packaging in financial aid has to do with how desireable you are to the school; something determined during the admissions process. It would be a crazy game for college officers in admissions or financial aid to try to second guess students' preferences because there are just too many factors involved, including who is going to accept them. Though I am not overly fond of many of the practices involving the college process, I have not found the adcoms or fin aid folks unfair or paranoid. For all the issues that come up, they are professionals doing the best they can to stay consistent to the principles of the cause, and any enrollment management is done on hard statistics, not on random listings and guesses.</p>

22

<p>cptofthehouse: What you wrote makes sense to me. If listing colleges by order of preference is important on FAFSA, why would that fact be kept such a deep, dark secret. I've been through two college/financial aid processes to this point, did my research in quite some depth along the way, and never--ever--heard of such a thing.</p>

23

<p>I still don't like that colleges can see where else you're applying. It's like walking into a job interview at Microsoft and saying, "I'm also applying for jobs at Boeing, Big Boy, and Dewey, Cheatem & Howe."</p>

24

<p>It can matter, depending upon the school. I know that some schools look at where they fall on the list to determine who should receive the school-based scholarships. Students who have the school listed closer to the top have a higher priority, as the mindset is that the student is actually considering attending that school. Student's who list the school lower in the ranks may be ovrlooked by some schools for those school-based scholarships. Again, each school uses different criteria in making those types of decisions.</p>